Thursday 11/15 A.M. Quickie:A-Rod, P-Jax, Dixon, Ricky, UNC, More!

A-Rod and the Yankees are talking about a deal: This shouldn't surprise you at all. The highest-paid player in baseball was never going to eliminate the freest-spending team in baseball from the discussion – even if he just opted out of playing for them. The odds-on bet is still that A-Rod returns to the Yankees.

UPDATE: The hot rumor is that it's a done deal – 10 years for $275 million, which represents a small increase from his previous deal (and a substantial increase in what portion of that salary the Yankees are paying), but certainly more long-term security for the player.

If this rumor holds up, A-Rod will likely retire a Yankee, break Barry Bonds' career home-run record as a Yankee, hit No. 800 as a Yankee, wear a Yankees cap into the Hall of Fame – but it remains to be seen whether he will win any championships as a Yankee. If he is there for 10 more years, given his previous success with the team, I'll put the over-under on A-Rod/Yankees World Series titles at one. (And the over-under on Red Sox World Series titles within the same decade span at two.)

MLB Awards: Your managers of the year are Eric Wedge (a rare correct preseason pick from me) and Bob Melvin (who no one saw coming). I was surprised Colorado's Clint Hurdle finished 3rd. Between Hurdle and Tulowitzki, I guess voters didn't put much stock in the Rockies' late-season surge. We'll see if it impacted the biggest award race: NL MVP.

Meanwhile, today is NL Cy Young, and you have to imagine it will be Jake Peavy, even with his unclutch performance in Game 163 (but, apparently, voters aren't really taking that game into consideration – or at least giving it more weight than the previous 162… which they should. Yes, when it comes to awards, some regular season games are more important than others.)

Dwayne Wade returns, Heat still stink: I mean, they even lost to the Sonics, sorry Seattle's first win of the season. And the game was in Miami! (Wade had 15 points on 5/9 FG shooting in 25 minutes.)

Phil Jackson's "Brokeback" scandal: Normally, I think Jackson is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful sports figures out there. I think this remark was just plain dumb, rather than maliciously intended.

CFB: Heisman Watch – It's Dixon and Tebow down to the wire. That's how Heisman Pundit is calling it, after doing another (rather unscientific) poll of the Heisman pollsters. (h/t: Fanhouse) I still think that Chase Daniel can come from behind if he puts on spectacular performances while leading Missouri past both Kansas and Oklahoma in back-to-back weeks.

Totally related: Oregon on national TV tonight. Dennis Dixon gets the national stage all to himself tonight, as Oregon takes on Arizona in yet another must-see ESPN Thursday Night game. The matchup itself might seem like a dud, but here's a chance to watch one of the Top 2 teams in the country, up-close, along with the leading Heisman contender.

If Dixon stumbles, he could lose ground to Tebow or Daniel. Far more important, Oregon can go a long way toward shoring up their support with human BCS pollsters by winning decisively and impressively; however, if they look shaky (even in victory), that's going to open the door for both Oklahoma and Kansas to potentially jump ahead of the Ducks. (Pick: Oregon)

North Carolina is NOT No. 1 in college hoops: Hard to take them seriously at the No. 1 spot when they are barely getting by Davidson (by 4). Now, Davidson is a really good mid-major (see their Tournament performance a year ago vs. Maryland), but still: If you're going to claim a team is No. 1 (and that's the "experts," not Roy Williams himself), they should win a little more impressively, shouldn't they?

(Meanwhile, for an example of a real early-season throttling, check out Tennessee's 57-point win over D-II Arkansas-Monticello.)

NFL: Ricky Williams is back! I don't think the winless woeful Dolphins are in a position to sniff their nose at ANY player that they have the option to use, including one who hasn't played in 18 months – and particularly a running back. What I won't understand is if Ricky isn't in the best shape of his life; something tells me, though, that he didn't spend the last 18 months preparing to resume his NFL career.

NFL Notes: Is it really that big of a deal that Dwight Freeney is done for the season? It's not like the Colts were/are going to win the AFC... John Beck starting at QB for the Dolphins, and, yes, on several of my QB-starved fantasy rosters, I picked him up and will start him, too… Speaking of starting, Rex Grossman is back… Interesting to see the NFL showing its 8 NFL Network games online. Unfortunately, it's not available everywhere online, but just to certain Verizon DSL subscribers…

More NBA: The Celtics are 7-0 for the first time in 35 years. Yes, that's better than the legendary 1986 team started… What a duel between the East's best wing player, LeBron James (34 points, 13 rebounds, 14 assists), and its best post player, Dwight Howard (35 points, 16 rebounds). Howard's team won the game, and if you had to choose between investing long-term in the standings success of LeBron's Cavs or Howard's Magic, you would have to seriously consider favoring Howard's Magic… Looking for scoring help for your fantasy team? Perhaps you have Tracy McGrady and will see him out the next week (or more) with an elbow injury. Try Minnesota's McCants (if he's even still available)... Stephon Marbury is back with the Knicks, and $180,000 poorer for it…

College Hoops Recruiting Signing Begins: Florida may be in a rebuilding year, but they are leading the nation with the No. 1 a Top 5 (my bad) recruiting class, led by two stud post players. UCLA picked up a great PG (Jrue Holliday), and Georgetown got arguably the best big man (Greg Monroe). "Official" signings continue today.

New CBB postseason tournament: I'm all for this third-tier postseason tournament, which is subordinate to both the NCAAs and the NIT. The market will decide if fans are willing to show any interest in the teams involved, but for the fans of those teams, it's a chance to participate in a postseason – any postseason – and extend their season. No one is claiming that the team that wins this tournament is particularly good; the organizers just recognized that college hoops fans of teams not in either of the main postseason tournaments have an appetite in March, too. Count me interested, College Basketball Invitational.

Sports Media: Mike Golic admits he used steroids: And that's just the steroids he was WILLING to admit he used. He tried to explain himself, but I think it's a little disingenuous that he has been commenting on the radio and TV every day through the years of the various steroid scandals in baseball and the NFL while keeping this particularly relevant personal detail to himself.

137 comments:

I'm willing to bet that Golic let it slip in the past and simply thought it would be best to explain himself instead of brushing it under the rug in typical four letter fashion of editing chats, podcats and articles of anything that may raise an eyebrow.

Real nice work today, Dan. Carolina isn't #1 because they got a tough game from a good mid-major? Glad to hear you were more impressed with Tennessee beating the snot out of a Div II team. Although you're just wrong on the merits, there's no reason to even bother. Who cares who's #1 now? This isn't college football. #1 will change many times this season, and it will be settled on the court at the end of the season.

From what Golic said this morning, he has talked about his use the past 8 years on the show. It's only getting publicity b/c of blogs and the recent steroid fiascos. 8 years ago, it just didn't matter. No one cared.

Also, Dan...Tebow won't win the Heisman. The South will be split between him, McFadden, and Daniel. Plus, like Grossman and Fitzerald, sophomores will never win. Although Rex and Larry should have one.

I am tired of TOO much weight put on a win by a top team. I don't think a four point win to a lesser opponent makes you cry foul for their ranking. It is not like you need to go undefeated to get to the national championship. (sure, undefeated in the tournament) A win is a win. It is early in the season and even good teams struggle to play at a high level when the opponent is not good.

Everybody is all over Boras today, but he gave it a shot and it didn't work, if ARod can stil get the same deal then no harm done, except to Boras' rep. Personally I'm glad Arod is comming back to the Yanks, they need him in that line up.

The Phil Jackson "Brokeback Mountain" quote, who cares? That movie was shoved down the publics throats for an entire year and lets be honest, the highlight of it was that it was homosexual passion and sex, not that it was a love story. so what if he refernces 9.5 weeks? does he get a laugh and no response from the league? i think the league doesn't care. but because it references gay sex, its a homophobic/insensitive comment. Being way overblown.

plus lesser teams in college basketball rely on the big equalizer that is the 3 point line. They will hoist 50 of them, and if they hit 15-20 of them it will make the game a lot closer and maybe propel them over the better team.

If Daniel can be a dark horse candidate for Heisman if he beats KU and OU, then shouldn't Reesing be the same if he beats Mizzou and OU? (Won't happen even if he does beat both) Either way, Daniel is good and will be among the favorites next year.

Yeah I thought Boras would get Arod 30 million, looks like that's not going to happen. I still don't see the harm in trying to get his agent the best deal. If anything Boras can take the bullet so Arod could try the open market and if it didn't work out he could go back to the Yanks without losing too much face.

Sparty, I think too much emphasis is placed on lesser teams hoisting threes to beat better teams. If a team is killing you with 3 points shots, then defend the freakin' perimeter! Have you 1-2-3 defend with their toes on the 3 point line.

i agree, but this is just what happens. when these guys come out of high school they are usually great offensive players, but they need to learn how to play defense. It is not just because the rules allow for teams to use a zone, but also because less time can be used on teaching man to man defense. college defense just in general stinks.

I'm also not willing to get too riled up over UNC's performance since it was (more or less) a road game for them. Yes it was in the state of NC, but those were Davidson logos on the floor, Davidson's band in the stands and over 1000 members of the student body.

Plus, please don't whine later in the year about teams with cupcake non-conf schedules if you're going to criticize wins over good mid-majors. That's definitely talking out of both sides of your mouth.

Instead of complimenting Davidson for hanging with the #1 team in the country, Dan rips Carolina, and Davidson, for winning by "only" 4 points. And praising Tennessee for pounding a D-II team? Jesus. Well done.

I love that Dan suggests that Peavy shouldn't be the Cy Young winner because of 1 game. A game that was lost by Trevor Hoffman, not Peavy. And if not Peavy, who wins? At least offer a better choice if you're going to claim it shouldn't be Peavy.

Starting a rookie QB in his first career start for the winless Dolphins on multiple fantasy teams? Good god the other people in your league must love you.

For all the slurping of other blogs you do I can't believe it's taken you this long to mention Golic and the steroids. The story is at least a week old.

I could be wrong but doesn't the media have to have their baseball awards in by the last sunday of the regular season? Meaning that last Peavy performance is irrelevant?

Your comment on Freeney is just plain stupid. Short of Manning he is the most important player on the colts and the only way they had a serious shot at beating the Pats was to put major pressure on Brady - as they did in the first 3 quarters a few weeks ago.

i do not think anyone in here is getting riled up about the UNC game. Just Dan. I think people in here were just making reference to how top teams in general struggle during the regular season, against mid majors, and lesser competition in general. happens in the NBA too. I think the Bulls lost one home game the year they won 72 games, and it was against a hornets team that no longer had Zo. just happens.

Plus with all the injuries the Colts have even if they hold on and win the Division they will probably be the 3 seed. Which means no bye which at this point I think would be critical for Indy's chances of upsetting the Patriots.

marcomarco said..."I'm still holding out hope that the Yanks tell Aroid to screw."

That would be classic, A-Fraud comes to sign his contract, walks into Steinbrenner's office all happy, and then Hank and Hal turn to him and say "Get Out, we changed our mind, we want to win a world series and signing you will not make that happen, Good Luck"

"This trip is also tricky because the star of the show, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and his wife, Tomoyo, are expecting their second child on or about March 22. This creates a dilemma for Matsuzaka. His wife plans to have the child in Boston. But there's a clamoring for Matsuzaka in Japan and there's a big emphasis on work coming first in that culture, according to one Japanese journalist. How will the Sox resolve this conflict?"

"There are many couples and families in Red Sox Nation who plan their vacations based on spring training. There will be almost two weeks worth of games taken away.

Any spring training, but especially one after a World Series championship, is hugely important to Sox fans. Some of the wealthier ones might book trips to Tokyo during that time, but spring training is meant to be in Florida for the full six weeks. This trip will disrupt everyone. And it will hurt tourism in Fort Myers."

Uh, Dan, I realize you are hopelessly uninformed about just about anything relating to sports. Unless of course there is a connection to your wife's team. So I'll try to help you out here with something. I have Mike & Mike on in my office almost every day and Golic has talked about his brief (under 6 weeks) use of steriods on several occasions throughout the years. This isn't some breaking story because it is old news. Although, I'm sure in your confused state you probably think it was discovered by a blogger.

BTW, Davidson is a good team that gave OSU and Maryland all they could handle in recent NCAA tournament games. Oh, wait, I'm sorry, that is a Big 10 and an ACC school. Clearly they play an inferior brand of hoops and shouldn't be thought of in the same vein as an SEC team that plays the game at a much higher level. I cannot stand Carolina but because they struggled with a strong mid-major team is no reason to think less of them. Well, of course, they weren't an SEC team (Tennessee)beating up on some lightweight so clearly they are over-rated.

Me thinks Dan doth protest too much with regards to UNC being #1 after squeaking by Davidson. Like my comments earlier this week and last, I firmly believe the talent gap in college basketball is minuscule at best- all the way down to the community college level. So that UNC is #1 is fine by me. In the end, national rankings don't matter until seedings for March anyway. And even then you can simply run the table in your conference tourney for an automatic bid anyway.

I know there's a LARGE amount of gray area between letting Golic off the hook and flat out firing, but I can't put a guy in his position as one of the top faces for ESPN Radio in a position to chance being hypocritical on the air (if he hasn't already). Of course, the 4-letter could spin this into an "Educational Campaign" fronted by Golic and denounce PEDs in sports altogether, but that would be awfully superficial. Then again, seeing that everyone believes most players did something at some point, does anyone really care about Golic revealing his use?

The C's are legit. I originally said wait until December before deciding anything about this team, but that was before they were 7-0, and the Heat and Bulls look horrible, and the Pistons seem to be running in place, and the West is more top-heavy this year. I honestly think they have the early track on the Finals. And if they get double-digit scoring from every starter (like last night), this team might be too well-balanced to stop. OK OK, THAT's a little overboard, but the Spurs have top be worried about a team that is playing balanced offense AND crazy defense (like them).

i do not need anything to support it, just a feeling. like good ole Lou Holtz feeling they were a near top 10 team at the beginning of the season. i know that i could be way off but i really do not care. but thanks scuba steve for your warmth and encouragement this morning. I cannot wait to hear from you again.

you're an idiot. a feeling? well, I have a feeling that Duke is going undefeated next season and heading to the Rose Bowl.

And you shouldn't thank me for "encouragement" because I haven't given you any. I haven't given you any because you bring nothing to the table except feelings. Maybe you should join "Staying Men Together" and have yourself a nice cry on Bob's man tits.

once again ladies and gents, scuba steve!big round of applause to the resident danshanoff.com comments page low brow moron. it is hard to find these guys sometimes, but rest assured, they will always come out and find a way to sound less and less intelligent with their filthy mouth, child like insults, and ultimate degenerate behavior. thank you steve!

From the, "you can't make this stuff up" file... a snippet from an article about a 21-year old young woman in China who had a 33-pound benign tumor removed from her stomach after complaining of abdominal pain.

"Her family had not noticed anything wrong with Xiao Wen's stomach as at 251 pounds, she was already 'comparatively fat,' the paper said."

Syracuse barely squeaked by St. Joe's but a win is a win. I will say the same for North Carolina except that except that NC is ranked higher than Cuse and Davidson is not as good as St. Joe's. Young teams with veteran early season opponents will struggle. Cuse is starting 2 frosh, 2 sophs and 1 junior who is the only returning starter. Similar for North Carolina. I wouldn't read too much into that.

I commend Golic for stating he used steroids and he has never denied it in the past either. Besides, EVERY single player in the NFL in his years was using steroids - just like now.

Dan, what sources are you using to refer to Florida as having the #1 recruiting class? I understand that you're obviously a homer (then again who ISN'T a homer for their own team?) but still I can't see how you put them above UCLA and Georgetown, which you at least mentioned, but they are also far behind Wake Forest who signed 2 top 10 guys (Aminu, Walker) and 1 top 30 guy (Wood) yesterday, all big guys which is hard to come by. Scouts.com and Rivals.com both have all three teams above Florida and the quality of the recruits are just higher. I would assume you haven't looked into this and just wrote this based on what you have heard from Florida fans. I humbly suggest doing some research and then posting another blurb about your thoughts on the entire 2008 recruiting classes.

If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I got an "Autoresponse" from Easterbroke's email client after I emailed a comment on one of his articles. Here it is in all it's glory...

Ye gods! Thanks for writing to TMQ. If you submitted a reader comment, please be sure you gave your hometown.

In case you don't know my big news, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has called The Progress Paradox "a book you must read." Details at http://greggeasterbrook.com. I'm wrestling with Random House to keep the book alive, so if you haven't purchased The Progress Paradox, now would be a great time.

Thanks, Gregg Easterbrook

The clown is just pushing his geo/socio political wares into any stream he can find. I can't believe the WWL fell for it. Well, yeah I can, but I cannot believe it continues.

but with Lute Olsen out, they could struggle. 5-3 record without him is decent, but not great. We have seen top programs stuggle when their coach is gone for extensive amount of time. Such as Duke about 10 or so years ago.

I gotta say that I think the Phil Jackson thing was way overblown. Jeeze, I thought he had come out and said they had a bunch of "faggots" playing d or something. People need to lighten up. Phil's right: if Leno or Letterman had said it, it would have gotten a bunch of laughs and that's it.

As far as Hurdle only finishing 3rd, I think a lot of perception, out here in Denver anyway, was that the Rockies underachieved most of the first half of the year whereas the Dbacks consistantly overachieved in relation to their talent.

"More useless crap from Steve, thanks can you take your idiotic banter back to LOV and stop trying to pick fights."

First, cummy, i never said a word to you. second, it took you an hour to think that up? really?

cummy, you should probably settle down and let the big boys talk. Let me go back to LOV and gather some of cummy's greatest hits...I would say that it's "idiotic banter" but it's actually a few steps lower than that.

DIXON KNEE BLOWN OUT BY A MASSIVE HIT BY "AIR". Oregon is done, no chance. Getting blown out by a bajillion against a 4-6 team -- you never deserved your number two ranking. Cal sucking have beating Oregon should have raised red flags, but the media is stupid!

Actual post: Dixon's knee injury costs Oregon. What a shame.

----

Oregon has been revealed tonight as a one-trick pony. All tongue-in-cheek aside Dixon's injury tonight proves his Heisman worthiness.

And who knows, maybe the Buckeyes are back in it. GO BUCKS!! And GO Texas Tech, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Ole Miss and Kansas State!!

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.